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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23995051">Eine Für Die Liebe</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelGatoya/pseuds/HazelGatoya'>HazelGatoya</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Between the Devil and the Digital Sea [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ai specifically, Gen, Hey there's poetry in this, More world mechanics haha, Post-Canon, Post-Rebellion Story, The Clara dolls doing their job, This is really short but I think it gets the point across, post-rebellion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:15:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>623</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23995051</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelGatoya/pseuds/HazelGatoya</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After a rough day, Bealyn meets a small girl with a lantern on the steps of the middle school. The girl listens.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Between the Devil and the Digital Sea [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1659613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Eine Für Die Liebe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>       "-And then he repeats <em>two months </em>back at me, as if the focus of anyone in my age group would be any better than that of a rabid squirrel." Bealyn waved her arms about, but the pink-haired child who had come to sit next to her didn't seem bothered at all, continuing to look up at her with those serious dark brown eyes. "I shouldn't be this upset. He believed me in the end there, and turning around and walking the opposite direction he was might have been stupid, but believe it or not, being out here at night is a good way to not get looked at and that's why I'm even out here."</p><p>        "Understandable," the girl replied simply.</p><p>        "I still have dishes waiting for me once I get home, and I... I just don't know." Bealyn lowered her elbows to the concrete, leaning back against the stairs they were sitting on to look up at the stars. "Not to mention my friends are all bigger messes than I am. I don't have depression, I don't have anxiety, I just... don't know why <em>today</em> of all days seems so awful."</p><p>        "Maybe it's the monotony catching up to you," the girl replied, swinging her unlit black paper lantern to and fro in the air in front of her."Maybe it's the fact that you're taking yourself out of the equation. That is a mistake I have seen many make."</p><p>        Bealyn looked fully at the girl again. "...What's your name, again?"</p><p>        "Ai."</p><p>        They both knew full well she'd never asked until just then. "Why are you here?" Bealyn, which was what she had asked before and what seemed far more important. </p><p>        "Like I said before." Ai blinked those big brown eyes at her. "To listen."</p><p>        And she had, listening to all of Bealyn's petty complaints. "Why, though?"</p><p>        "Oh, we all have ups and downs." Ai turned her gaze to the sky, her black veil fluttering behind her head as she did. "Push and pull. Change is an inevitability no matter how much people tend to cling to stagnation and safety. But life is a wonderful thing because it has the potential for growth and change. Take today for example- you're down in the dumps. But tomorrow will be better, and if it's not, you say it again the next day. Eventually, you'll be right, because you're alive and life means change."</p><p>        Bealyn studied Ai, and felt the weight on her chest lift just a little. The lantern glowed with a deep purple light in the same instant. She looked at it for another moment, then murmured, "Thank you."</p><p>        "Of course." Ai smiled, her long pick hair rippling slightly as she stood. "A piece of advice- never think that your suffering is unimportant. It isn't. In some cases, it literally helps the world continue to spin, in all others, it's for your own growth and will still keep the world spinning in a different way as you work to combat, as you always should. Everyone deserves happiness, after all.</p><p>        With that, the strange little girl with spider lilies on her veil turned around and walked down the street with her glowing purple lantern held aloft, off to do whatever business she did. Bealyn lingered on the steps of the school for another moment, turning her gaze up to the stars before exhaling and getting up to return to her life.</p><p>---</p><p>
  <em>The world will keep spinning </em>
</p><p>
  <em>I offer my chalice,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A toast given freely.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The people cry out,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I will not have stagnation.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They give me their grief and pride,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I take it all as my own sins.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>My daughters fill me with burdens,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>As is my place as the first fallen angel,</em>
</p><p>
  <em> The Nutcracker Queen.</em>
</p>
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